Forum:Forum vs Talk Pages
Using the Forum vs the Talk Pages Now that I have been on wikia for a while and have been doing some major editing on a lot of pages, I can certainly see Lady Lostris' point about using the forums versus the talk pages for discussion of what needs to be edited. My observations: The forums make current topics of discussion easily visible and discoverable. With a forum section for article change discussion a new user has *one* place to go to easily see what is being discussed, offer their opinion, and see what they can do to help. With talk pages a new user won't know that anything is being discussed, unless they go to that specific page, and then click on the talk button. It is also easier for active editors. I will be honest, I spent an evening glancing at every article on the forum and made comments on the article's as to what I saw as needing discussed or changed. Several of these changes I left a deadline for comments. It was a week later and I went to make the changes and I realized that I couldn't remember everything discussed, and I didn't have any way to find out easily. So, I am left with having to wait until I have an evening free again and I will go back through every article again and check the talk pages. Another thing that I am running into is the ordering nature of talk pages versus the forums. An article with active discussion that uses the talk pages builds up a lot of comments back and forth. Commonly the most recent comment is at the bottom of the talk page, which means that to see what is being discussed now a user has to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to see. And what is even worse is when there are a couple of active discussions taking place. With a talk page there is no easy way to see what topic was last commented on because *all* discussions are lumped together on a single page. Which means that if I comment on a topic that is in the middle of the page, it could easily be missed as updated. I am just really of the opinion, that we need another forum section specifically for article discussions. Therefore, I am suggesting the following changes be made to the Forum (and support documents such as MoS, New to the Wiki?, etc.): Forum:Index Welcome to the Kim Possible Wiki forum! This forum can be used by members of this community to discuss topics related to our wiki. Please use the forums in the following manner: *Wade's Room is for article content questions/discussions. *Downtown Middleton is for discussions of community business/policy. *MHS Lunchroom is for general series questions/discussions. *Help Desk is for users to get answers to their editing questions. --- Create and rename forums as necessary to match the above descriptions. Support pages Support pages should mention something along the lines of "Issues concerning specific articles should be addressed in the forum, not in an article's talk page." And they should link to the forum. Thoughts of concerns about doing this? If I haven't received any objects within a week, I will enact this. Mknopp (talk) 15:03, January 22, 2013 (UTC) I dunno. As I'm editing a page, it is easy to check its Talk, whereas I'd have to go hunt if there is a forum discussion. But then, *my* focus is on the articles. When it comes to Forum, I'm mainly scanning from the Recent Changes list via the "show me the change", and only commenting if I see the need to. Frankly, I'd prolly be as lost navigating Forums as you trying to recall week-old issues But for issues about x, I check the Talk, then proceed. And if after making an edit I feel it chatworthy, I'll Talk about it. I feel the average "drive-by" editor will likewise not bother with the Forums and stick to the articles. As it is they don't bother too much with the Talks either. My 2 pesos… Love Robin (talk) 19:39, January 22, 2013 (UTC) Given your experience with the Haven forum I seriously doubt that you would be lost at all using the forums. What you are describing is a dissonance in standard procedure. It also could stem from a difference in focus. As you said, you are focused on going to a specific article. Usually with the intent of making a specific change, thus it is easy for you to see what needs to be changed by looking at the talk page. It also makes a huge difference in the frequency of visits. The more often you watch for changes the less the need for he forum seems, and the better the talk pages seem. However, for people who only come by every once in awhile, the forums allow for them to quickly and easily catch up on what has been done and what is left to do. Mknopp (talk) 20:02, January 22, 2013 (UTC) :During a discussion with Love Robin on a talk page I realized what I would like to do to segregate the talk pages and the forums. The talk pages are where one will go to discuss fan supposition and non-canonical discussions. The forums are where one will go to discuss changes to the articles themselves. :Thoughts on this separation? :If I don't receive any objections within a week I will enact this. :Mknopp (talk) 03:31, January 26, 2013 (UTC) I have updated the forums to match this layout. Sometime soon I will add the info to the policy pages. Mknopp (talk) 17:51, February 1, 2013 (UTC)